


Saved

by yazzledazzle



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 4x15 alternate ending-ish, Angst, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prompts needed, because hot men with cute kids make me swoon, bored at midnight so wrote a random shot, maybe to be continued maybe not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 19:27:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8546146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yazzledazzle/pseuds/yazzledazzle
Summary: After finding out that Oliver is so much more than the irresponsible playboy she wrote off, Samantha's years of resolving to keep him away from her son start to come undone and maybe she doesn't leave with William after 4x15





	

**Author's Note:**

> Notes at end

“No.”

Oliver broke off mid-sentence. He was exhausted, physically and emotionally, and had come straight here from the lair after debriefing the team. He’d been agonising over what to say, what to do, all evening, and had been internally rehearsing his goodbyes on his way over here. Now, with his momentum killed by the interruption, all he could do was blink at Samantha, brow furrowed. He honestly hadn’t expected her to object, and he didn’t know if he was feeling happiness or irritation at the fact. 

“Excuse me?” He eventually asked, voice harsher than he intended but still quiet.

Samantha sighed, and leaned forward, her head resting in one hand as she looked down. “I don’t want to rush this decision,” she said. “That’s not fair on anyone.” 

Between the dim lighting and his exhaustion, Oliver couldn’t read her face, and he continued to frown at her.

They were in the living area of Diggle’s apartment, Samantha seated at the kitchen island and Oliver standing, awkwardly shuffling on his feet at this point. 

“I don’t see that there’s much of a choice,” he eventually murmured.

“Maybe there’s not. But I don’t want to rush into thinking that. I made you rush your decision when it came to meeting him, Oliver, and keeping it a secret… and... I regret it.”

“Samantha…” Oliver starts, as she looks up at him.

“I’m not saying no, Oliver. I just don’t want to change William’s entire life without considering other options. That’s not an easy thing to put him through… to take him away from his school, from his friends….”  
‘From you’, she thought, but didn’t say it.

“I need to know that he’s safe Samantha, that -” he snapped, before catching himself and shutting his mouth - he could hear that Diggle was still in the shower, but the door to the room to where William’s was sleeping was wide open, so that Samantha could easily hear and check on him, and Oliver couldn’t bear it if he woke up and he had to see him. 

Samantha frowned this time. “I don’t see how you’re going to know that by sending us to the other side of the country, Oliver. In my experience, if people want to find someone, they will find them - even with all your work to try and hide us, because your kind of enemies have just as many connections and skills.”

“Samantha,” Oliver started, trembling a little. “If people find out he’s my son…”

“You mean if more people find out, Oliver.” Samantha was calm but there was a sharp edge to her voice now. “I wish these last few days didn’t happen, I really do… hell, I might even wish these last few months hadn’t happened…” she laughed ruefully and Oliver winced. “But they did. They have. And I don’t want to take my son away from his friends and his life if he ends up in just as much danger with five relays needed to try contact you for help.”

Oliver ran his hands over his face and tried to say something but his voice cracked and he swallowed back his words instead. 

Samantha sighed again. “I’m sorry… this is coming out wrong… I’m… look, Oliver, thank you for getting him back, okay? Thank you. And I’m sorry… about before… honestly I’m still a mess right now and I’m just, I’m actually still trying to come to terms with the fact that you’re actually a... well, a good guy now,” she continues, putting emphasis on “good guy”. “What I’m saying is that I’m thinking about William’s safety and also his happiness, too, and trying to weigh up all this new information to make choices. I just need a little time to think about this. I need to spend time with my son when he wakes up, and then, yes, I will talk to you again.” 

“When?” Oliver croaked. 

“I don’t know, Oliver, just let me sleep first and then, I dunno, we’ll talk about talking.”

The shower water turned off, and with the change in background noise, both turned their heads to look at William’s bed, both still highly on edge.

“I should go,” Oliver said slowly. He wanted to stay, to talk to Samantha and watch over William, but he trusted John, and more urgently, he didn’t trust himself to see John right now - he’d just resolved to send his son away, to keep him safe, a decision, with which he knew John disagreed, and with Samantha’s unexpected reluctance to leave, he was scared it would be far too easy for John to make him change his mind. 

Oliver began to walk towards the door. Samantha slipped off the chair and followed him. 

He paused when they got there, and turned towards her. 

“Let me know… when you’re ready to talk… and, if you need anything in the meantime.”  
Samantha nodded. There was a lot more that she wanted to say, even now, but it was clear that they were both wrecked, and she honestly had no idea where to even start. And he looked so sad, she couldn’t bear to drag him along before she even knew what she was feeling. 

As he opened the door and stepped out, she smiled weakly at him, and he smiled sadly back. “Good night, Samantha. And again, I’m so sorry.” 

Samantha stood staring at the now closed door. Her breath was caught in her throat, seeing so much of William in that sad smile and sad eyes. 

It had been easy to write him off while she'd been pregnant, even when he came back from the dead, and when he showed up at her house in Central City asking to be a part of William's life... but now that she knew something more about who Oliver Queen had actually become, she was anxious to let him leave it.

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to write something despite writer's block on my original stuff so just started to write something short. Unedited at 2am and kind of cut it much shorter than intended, so apologies for jumpiness, but resolving to try just write and put stuff up to keep some kind of creativity happening. Not sure if this will go anywhere or not, I'm just a sucker for cute dads and felt unsatisfied with Samantha and William leaving so quickly and quietly, so this is what came to my fluffy and angsty post-midnight brain.


End file.
